Chapter 579: First Level of Assessment: Prepare Meals
The sky is blue with white clouds, and the mountains in front of you are rolling, like a long curved snake sleeping here, waiting for the right opportunity to break out of the ground and devour the world.
The Darus Mountains are an uninhabited mountain range located in the southeast of the Kingdom of Fiore. The mountains and rivers there are not very beautiful, and the scenery is not pleasant. In every aspect, it is far inferior to Sirius Island, so it would not be a big deal if it was destroyed.
Although this place is remote and there are no special minerals to mine, and almost no one sets foot here on weekdays, it is not without its advantages. The biggest advantage is that it is large and there are various magical beasts entrenched in the area, making it the perfect place for training.
However, in the following period, the biggest crisis here is not the monsters, but the destruction from these uninvited guests from "Fairy Tail".
The magic airship landed in an empty valley. There were weeds more than ten centimeters high growing on the ground. There were towering mountains all around. Not far away was water. A waterfall formed from the top of one of the mountains and flowed down the river. The river was winding and the water was clear and transparent. There were a few flower petals floating on the surface of the river, and a faint fragrance drifted with the wind.
“The smell of nature is so comfortable~”
"Really? That's how I feel."
Compared to Kana and others who had stayed in the guild, people like Kira who had just returned from the Western Continent and had only stayed in Magnolia for a few days did not enjoy the embrace of nature very much. Instead, they felt sick of it.
Of course, there are some people who are naturally active and can have fun no matter where they are, such as Natsu and Happy. As soon as they got off the airship, they ran around like crazy, even happier than when they were back home.
"Come here and stop making noise, the test is about to begin!"
Mavis was still wearing only a white dress. The swaying weeds were like a group of wretched old men constantly tickling her white and smooth feet, and a strange feeling crept into her heart.
Hearing her call, everyone was stunned: "Eh?! So soon? I thought it would start at least tomorrow..."
This assessment was planned by the three presidents, Mavis, Preshito and Makarov, with Auguste providing supplements, so even Kira and the other twelve "supporters" were not clear about the process and content, and could only take it one step at a time.
Looking at the twelve candidates lined up in front of him, Kira sighed, "It feels like going through the S-level assessment again!"
"Didn't you only have Gildarts as an examiner at the beginning?"
"I mean the atmosphere, the atmosphere!"
Kira smiled at the Happy hovering around Natsu, "You see, the strength of the candidates in the previous sessions was too weak, even with the addition of teammates. This time, because everyone has an extra strong support, there is a feeling of strong strength and equal strength. Just thinking about it makes me excited."
Too watery?
Laxus, Erza, and Mira, who were not far away, were very dissatisfied when they heard this, and they glanced at Kira at the same time.
Kana remained calm. After all, last year's class was the worst in the past few years. If it weren't for the appearances of "Devil's Heart", "Gate of Hades" and Acnorolia, the whole assessment would undoubtedly be very boring. Fortunately, Kira was not the only one mocking Kana, so she would not bother with him for the time being.
"With so many talented guys here, this year will definitely be fun... I just don't know how the president will arrange it. I'm a little excited just thinking about it!"
Kira's mouth curled up, the big fight is the most fun!
Not long after, everyone gathered again. Mavis, as the examiner of the first round, announced the content of the test: "The task requirements of the first round of this S-level test are: each test team moves in the clock direction corresponding to their team number, and captures a monster within three hours as food for the next few days."
"The restrictions are as follows: 1. With this stronghold as the center, within a five-kilometer radius, no matter what obstacles you encounter, you cannot turn back or change direction. Even if you encounter a mountain, you must break through it or climb over it! You can only change direction if you are five kilometers away;"
"2. Candidates can only attack the monster once and bring it back as the one to be submitted for this assessment. During the capture process, supporters cannot sell it;"
"3. The monsters you bring back must be alive and cannot be missing any limbs."
"Within three hours, the more 'edible' parts of the monsters the candidates bring back and the shorter the time, the higher their ranking will be."
"There are only eight qualifying spots in the first round, which means four candidates will be eliminated."
Mavis' voice was soft and sweet, but she spoke clearly and logically. She finished explaining the test rules in a few words, then looked at the people in front of her with a smile, and without asking whether they had heard it clearly, she announced directly: "Now, the test begins!!!"
As he said this, he took out a timer from his pocket and turned it on. The stopwatch immediately made a "tick-tick" sound and started timing.
The 24 people standing in front of the girl stared at each other in confusion.
“Ehhhh?! Is it starting already? This is too sudden!?”
"I haven't even heard the assessment rules clearly yet!!"
"According to the direction , please first clearly state which is 12 o'clock and which is 6 o'clock!!"
Fortunately, besides a few people who are just brawn, there are also people with high IQ who are used to analysis: "Can the candidate only attack once? And it must be used on the monster brought back? In other words, before and after that, no matter what monster is encountered, it can only be dealt with by the supporters, right?"
"I thought we were going to have a scuffle, but it turns out we're just going to be babysitters?!!"
Of course, there are also those who only have a vague understanding of the rules: "Yoshi! Although I don't quite understand it, but anyway, just capture the biggest monster, right?"
"Are you listening?! The rules say the 'edible part' is not the largest one! If we bring a monster that's covered in shells or is poisonous, we lose!!"
"Gajeel, please don't cut off the monster's limbs!!"
"I understand! I'll try not to use the Iron Dragon Sword!"
A swordsman scolded him rudely: "It's not about trying your best, it's about absolutely not using it!! You can only attack once, if you accidentally hit it, I will chop you down!"
"I can cut through mountains and block rivers. Isn't this my great strength?!"
"If we encounter people from other teams during the process, we can help them, right?"
“…”
The noise took up fifteen minutes.
"Stop making so much noise! What are you guys doing here?! Hurry up and leave! If you take more than three hours or fail to capture the monster, it will also be considered a failure!!"
At Makarov's roar, everyone awkwardly determined the direction and then ran forward.
This stronghold is a valley surrounded by mountains. There are few magical beasts in it. No matter which direction the candidates start from, they will encounter mountains blocking the way within five kilometers.
In other words, the mountain in front of them is basically an unavoidable problem for the candidates.
The substitutes cannot take action, so this problem can only be solved by the supporters, otherwise they have to climb over the mountains. These mountains are not very high, but if they want to climb over them, it will inevitably consume a lot of time.
The wizards were full of energy, so covering a distance of several kilometers was no problem at all, and they soon arrived at the foot of the mountain.
When you encounter a problem, you have to solve it. The best way for the Fairy Tail wizards to solve problems is to fight! They have nothing but a lot of physical strength and magic power, and they are agile!
In front of them stood the mountain, and each team showed their own unique skills, which can be roughly divided into the following categories:
[One-on-One] Mode: Wendy, who can already control the free wind, easily climbs over the mountain with Dimaria; Ferid and Killer can use magic to create wings, so they can easily carry Jellal and Natsu respectively; although Cana cannot fly, she relies on the magic card she bought from Killer at a high price to summon a magic carpet, and carries Elfman, who weighs more than 200 pounds, over the mountain with difficulty;
[Both Can Fly] Mode: Alba Green and Erza, one has fairy wings and the other has black feather armor, both can easily cross mountains and hills; Mira turns into a demon, and Bigusro steps on a puppet, both can fly; Lisanna receives the animal soul - the flying bird, and gains the ability to fly, while Laxus, as a teammate, can turn into thunder, although it consumes some magic power, but it is nothing for him;
[Violent Demolition] Mode: Dispere violently cuts a path through the hill with a few slashes; Gildarts uses crushing magic to advance on the ruins of the hill;
[Smart Use of Magic] Mode: Gray's "Ice-made War God Spear" directly sent two people into the sky; Brandish used shape magic to turn the mountain into small stones; Serena used Rock Dragon Slayer Magic to change the terrain. It was relatively peaceful.
At the stronghold, the four people and three cats did not sit idle. They started a wonderful showdown of strength.
With Mavis as the referee, the three old men, Auguste, Preshito and Makarov, formed one team, and the three kittens, Habby, Xia Lulu and Lili, formed another team. A tense and exciting peak showdown began!
The three people on the left are all white-haired, and one of them has a bald head; the three cats on the right are young and strong, two of them can even transform into human form, and there are six iron barrels of the same standard placed next to them.
"Are you ready?" Mavis slowly walked to the middle and asked seriously.
"We're ready!" the three people and three cats said in unison.
"Anything you want to say to your opponents?"
The others shook their heads, only Preshito snorted and sneered: "Fishing is a health-preserving activity. In this regard, my skills are no worse than anyone else's!"
Seeing the old man opposite him talking nonsense, Happy sneered and took out the [Never Air Force Fishing Rod] bought from Kira from the small green package on his back!
